Life-preserver.



Patented May 7 l90l.

H. A. AYVAD. LIFE PRESERVEB. pp m mqd s mm, 900.

(No Model.)

Inventor,

Witnesses;

AA vad 554,44 MM .llf g;

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HACHIG A. AYVAD, OF HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY.

LIFE-PRESERVER;

SPECIFICATION forming art Of Letters Patent NO. 673,672, dated May 7, 1901.

Application filed September 19, 1900. Serial No. 30,487. (No model.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, HACHIG A. AYVAD, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Hoboken, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Swimming-Bags, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide an inexpensive air-tight bag to be used for buoying up without obstructing the movement of the body when swimming or floating.

The bag is so formed that it can be quickly put in place for use and will keep its place without being fastened.

In the accompanying sheet of drawings, which form a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a top view of the swimming-bag. Fig. 2 shows the manner in which the swimmingbag is used when swimming. Fig. 3 shows in section the valve through which the bag is inflated.

The bag consists of two enlarged portions A A, which are connected by a tube B, midway of which is located a valve 0, through which the bag is inflated. The length of this tube is such that when laid across the chest of the person using the bag the enlarged portions will lie close to his sides under the arms and be pressed against his sides by the buoyancy of the water, with the result that the inwardlyprojecting shoulders a awill be forced down against his back with sufficient pressure to hold the bag in place, the bag thus having-a substantially semi-annular shape.

The bag is preferably made of muslin, which by reason of its fine mesh has the. property of being impervious to air when wet. Two pieces of muslin are out to the form of the bag, as shown in Fig. 1,.in which the bag is represented at about one-sixth its natural size. The edges of the two pieces are sewed together, and a tape binding is folded and sewed over the seam. No special claim is made, however,- to the particular way of unit= ing the parts. An opening is left in one seam about midway between the two ends of the connecting-tube, and a valve of any suitable construction is tied in. Fig. 3 is one form of valve, but any other form suitable to a lifepreserver could be used instead.

When in'use, as will be seen in Fig. 2, the enlarged portions of the bag lie at the sides and above the body. When the person using the bag is actively swimming, the body rises to such an extent that the enlarged portions of the bag are lifted more or less out of the water and ofier very little impedance to the swimmers progress. At the same time, owing to the extra pressure of the water against the connecting-tube, which is under the chest,

and the extra flexibility of the enlarged portions, the air is forced out of this tube and into the enlarged portions, so that the tube is perfectly flat and tight against the body and is not in the way of the swimmer.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

An air-tight inflatable bag of a substantially semi-annular shape, adapted to be worn upon the person, and having two enlarged end portions, each end portion being provided with a shoulder projecting inwardly toward the shoulder upon the opposite end portion and adapted, when the bag is inflated, to be pressed against the back of the person, the end portions being connected by a tube of reduced diameter, adapted to extend across the chest, the said tube having an inflating- Valve, substantially as described.

Signed by me in New York city, borough of Manhattan, New York, this 18th day of September, 1900.

HAOHIG A. AYVAD.

Witnesses:

SAMUEL W. BALCH, THOMAS EWING, Jr. 

